Product Description

Francis Crick, who died at the age of eighty-eight in 2004, will be bracketed with Galileo, Darwin, and Einstein as one of the great scientists of all time. Between 1953 and 1966 he made and led a revolution in biology by discovering, quite literally, the secret of life: the digital cipher at the heart of heredity that distinguishes living from non-living things -- the genetic code. His own discoveries -- though he always worked with one other partner and did much of his thinking in conversation -- include not only the double helix but the whole mechanism of protein synthesis, the three-letter nature of the code, and much of the code itself.

Matt Ridley's biography traces Crick's life from middle-class mediocrity in the English Midlands, through a lackluster education and six years designing magnetic mines for the Royal Navy, to his leap into biology at the age of thirty-one. While at Cambridge, he suddenly began to display the unique visual imagination and intense tenacity of thought that would allow him to see the solutions to several great scientific conundrums -- and to see them long before most biologists had even conceived of the problems. Having set out to determine what makes living creatures alive and having succeeded, he immigrated at age sixty to California and turned his attention to the second question that had fascinated him since his youth: What makes conscious creatures conscious? Time ran out before he could find the answer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #477155 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-01
• Released on: 2006-06-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Amazon.com Review
Francis Crick, who died at the age of eighty-eight in 2004, will be bracketed with Galileo, Darwin, and Einstein as one of the great scientists of all time. Between 1953 and 1966 he made and led a revolution in biology by discovering, quite literally, the secret of life: the digital cipher at the heart of heredity that distinguishes living from non-living things--the genetic code. His own discoveries--though he always worked with one other partner and did much of his thinking in conversation--include not only the double helix but the whole mechanism of protein synthesis, the three-letter nature of the code, and much of the code itself.

Matt Ridley's biography traces Crick's life from middle-class mediocrity in the English Midlands, through a lackluster education and six years designing magnetic mines for the Royal Navy, to his leap into biology at the age of thirty-one. While at Cambridge, he suddenly began to display the unique visual imagination and intense tenacity of thought that would allow him to see the solutions to several great scientific conundrums--and to see them long before most biologists had even conceived of the problems. Having set out to determine what makes living creatures alive and having succeeded, he immigrated at age sixty to California and turned his attention to the second question that had fascinated him since his youth: What makes conscious creatures conscious? Time ran out before he could find the answer.

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From Publishers Weekly
Francis Crick (1916–2004) is a natural addition to the Eminent Lives series. Best known for his codiscovery of the structure of DNA alongside James Watson, Crick is a canonical figure in modern science; award-winning British science writer Ridley (The Agile Gene) is an expert and distinguished author of popular books on biological science. But one wishes the strictures of this series gave Ridley more space in which to work; the prose is crisp and forthright, but he barely has enough room to recount the basic contours of Crick's voracious scientific career, leaving the reader with but a few fleeting glimpses of the man's deeper character. Readers of Watson's The Double Helix who pick up this book looking for a similarly idiosyncratic portrait of a scientific life will be disappointed, but one might argue that this spare, straightforward volume is a more fitting tribute to a scientist who lived a relatively modest public life while striving to understand the basic workings of life and consciousness. (June 1)
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From Scientific American
"Because of the momentous nature of his discovery Francis Crick must eventually be bracketed with Galileo, Darwin, and Einstein as one of the great scientists of all times," Ridley writes in this first biography of the codiscoverer of the structure of DNA. "He trained his mind to be exquisitely good at solving nature’s puzzles using logic, had the courage to take on the biggest problems, and threw himself exuberantly into the task, never letting prejudice stand in the way of reason. Throughout, he stayed true to himself: ebullient, loquacious, charming, sceptical, tenacious." Ridley, a well-known British science writer, unfolds Crick’s life from its modest beginnings on "a middle-class street in a middle-size town in the . . . English Midlands" through his uninspired physics career (six years designing magnetic mines for the Royal Navy) to his sudden switch into biology at the age of 31, when "with the bravado of a bankrupt gambler," he tried to decide what he would solve first, "the secret of the brain or the secret of life." In a stunning combination of visual and intellectual imagination, he and James Watson figured out the double helix of DNA, the secret of life. At age 60 he immigrated to California and focused his logic and energy on the nature of consciousness. He died in 2004, at 88, still working on this second quest.

Editors of Scientific American

Customer Reviews

Ridley's Insightful Biography of a Great Scientist; Not the final word
Matt Ridley has captured much of Francis Crick's essence in a very short, credible, engaging book. He has captured Crick's contributions to the discovery of DNA, but he also resurrects Crick's equally great contributions to understanding DNA's coding scheme. He has, I believe, portrayed the essence of Crick's thinking style - Crick's superb ability to visualize details in three-dimensional space; his life-long need to talk and debate with close colleagues; his intellectual pragmatism, his diligent reading abilities, his playfulness, and his ability to focus for long periods. Ridley has captured Crick's many moments of being polite, spirited, friendly, accommodating, and curious. But Ridley has also captured the stronger aspects of Crick's personality. These include his ability to take strong stands against things he despised, such as vitalism, royalty, and` organized religion. At times, these strong stands could be courageous and insightful. At others, Crick's behaviors could seem downright stubborn, cold and mean. A vitriolic attack on the Richard Gregory comes to mind, and is described in the later pages of the book. Another remarkable aspect of the book is its treatment of the mundane and perhaps "mediocre" Crick. The portrait of Crick and his work in WWII is fascinating for this reason, and invites considerable speculation.

Ridley weighs in on the well-known, controversial, mysterious and misunderstood aspects of the discovery of DNA. He includes sane descriptions and analyses of Crick's storied colleagues -Watson, Wilkins, Franklin, Brenner, Orgel, and many others. Ridley's treatment of Rosalind Franklin, Maurice Wilkins, Pauling, Chargaff and others involved in the controversial steps toward the discovery of DNA is well worth a look. "The story of the double helix is awash with might-have beens. Every participant had cause for regret about a blunder made or an opportunity missed." We see that Rosalind Franklin's interactions with Crick and others were mysterious and complex. Despite any hard feelings, we see Crick and his wife befriend Franklin toward the end of her life. But we also see Crick respond to controversy by harshly describing Franklin as "not sound." We see Wilkins as a somewhat unfortunate figure, despite his Nobel Prize. He is remembered, in part, as the man who did not collaborate sanely with Franklin; who failed to build models in a timely manner; who stole Franklin's data.

As I write this review, the book has been on the market for about a week, and Matt Ridley has just presented talks on his book at UCSD and at the Salk Institute. These talks, moderated by Roger Bingham and Stuart Anstis, were taped and will be published in some form soon. If you have a strong interest in Crick and his story, then it will be well worth watching these talks and the discussions that followed. They were riveting. The rooms were filled with many people who knew Crick well, and their questions and comments made for a vibrant and important presentation.

A number of other materials enhanced my enjoyment of this book, and I recommend them. Start with Francis Crick's (1988) "What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery." Have a copy of this book nearby while reading Ridley's book. This is Crick's autobiography, and it provides strong insights into Crick, his discoveries, his colleagues, and his times. In one intriguing passage, Crick commented on a movie drama about the discovery of DNA, and I couldn't help but thinking about it as I read this biography. Moreover, the autobiography contains many relevant photographs, including some that appeared in Ridley's talks in San Diego. One of the things I like about Crick's book is that it provides some details about his friendship with VS Ramachandran, co-founder of "the Helmholtz Club." Ramachandran is a great thinker and genius in his own right, and the two had many important interactions. Crick discussed how he was influenced by great vision scientists such as Hubel and Wiesel, among others. I would also recommend the introduction to "The Astonishing Hypothesis," in which Crick discloses more about himself and his ways. And of course, it helps to consult copies of Watson's books, Perutz' book on science and scientists, and books about Franklin, Wilkins and others.

I hope that Ridley makes some of his visual materials available, as the book contains no pictures. Moreover, it is a shame that the book does not provide an index. A book like this needs an index because on often times wants to find specific passages, topics or people within the book.

(On a personal note--I should say that I interacted briefly with Crick perhaps 20 times at talks and parties over perhaps a 7 year period, and did not know him particularly well. Even so, I felt like I had a somewhat reasonable sense of him. I caught first-hand glimpses of his kindness, enthusiasm and cantakerousness. He attended a talk I gave in 1997 at the Salk Institute, and I knew of him mostly through reports by mutual friends and colleagues. Their enthusiasm for Crick spoke volumes. My strongest memories are of Crick holding court at one of the many parties at Stuart Anstis' house, often kindly answering UCSD students' questions in an entertaining way. His last appearance at one of these parties was just a few months before he died. I went to the large memorial for him at the Salk Institute.)

Although Ridley has added another person's view regarding DNA and Crick, I think it is fair to say that this bio is "not the final word" and "the book is not out" in some sense. There are quite a few versions of Crick and the DNA story. I look forward to Ridley's version being picked over by people who are more knowledgeable than I. It is certainly possible to supplement ones understanding using other sources. One that comes highly recommended to me by a friend of Crick is "The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology." The word is that Crick figures predominantly in this book, and that the book provides a reasonably accurate portrayal. Another source is Olby's "The Path to the Double Helix." Again, I'm not familiar with the book, so won't comment. Perhaps the ultimate source on Crick will appear in 2007. Martin Packer reports that Crick's full-length scientific biography (by Olby) will appear then, and he is currently soliciting material for the book.

I wonder how Crick would react to all this posthumous attention. This is the man who wanted attention placed on the molecules, not the scientists who studied them. How ironic that his desire to remain somewhat anonymous has led to all this. Crick IS fascinating, whether he liked it or not.

Beyond the Double Helix
I bought this book mainly to find out how the discovery of the workings of DNA was carried out. But it is also a biography of Crick and Ridley portrays Crick the person well, so much so that I was very sad when I got to the part about Crick's death.

Watson had previously told the story of the discovery of the DNA structure in his book The Double Helix, but in his version, he tried to present the events as he saw them when he was living through them. Ridley gives a more objective picture and he also has a lot of information that Watson had to omit because he didn't know it at the time. Ridley's is far better as science history; Watson's is a helluva lot better story.

Watson and Crick approached the question of DNA structure with different motives. As Watson tells it - and his story rings true in this regard - he was a young, unknown scientist looking for a project that would establish him as more than just a bright post-doc. Crick, a militant atheist, wanted to show that there was some important aspect of life that could be explained without resorting to the hypothesis of God. (Numerous people had already done this; Crick wanted to extend the work in some significant way.) DNA was perfect for both men. Significantly, it was Crick who insisted on including a line in the original letter to Nature saying that the structure suggested a method for replication.

With the double helix nailed down, Watson could say "Mission Accomplished" and devote some energy to his next major project: looking for a wife. (That's how he tells it in the sequel.) For Crick however, the job had barely begun. To make his point, he had to show how DNA did its job, using only the laws of chemistry. He dedicated much of the rest of his life to this task and, as Ridley tells it, he was a major inspiration to others in the field.

Most of the things that were discovered in this period were familiar to me, as they are to most people who are interested in modern biology. But the story of how the facts were worked out had some surprises. For example, it seemed obvious to me, looking backward, that the code should be a sequence of triplets with no overlap. But Crick tried other, cleverer, schemes before he settled on this one. I need to be reminded from time to time that discovery can be quirky.

Later in his life, Crick tackled the problem of trying to explain consciousness. As Ridley tells it, Crick met a lot of resistance to his idea that scientists should try to find connections between experiences and brain activities. This doesn't ring true to me since I know that scientists in the 1950s were already mapping particular brain locations to particular memories and actions. I suspect that some people were resistant to the idea and that others were way ahead of Crick.

While I'm sure that Crick's work has never changed a single mind about the existence of God, it is certainly important for our understanding of hereditary diseases, cancer, evolution, and other subjects.

When I review a science book, I try to give an idea of the technical level. This one is appropriate for readers with little awareness of science. It helps to know what RNA is, but it's probably not necessary.

For readers who would like to learn more about how DNA works, there is a very detailed, and very technical, account by Watson, et al. called Molecular Biology of the Gene. You may click on "See all my reviews" and go to page 3 for my review.

A Life Devoted to the Intellect
I was heartened to read in this book that Francis Crick steadfastly refused to accept honorary degrees and other such dubious signs of distinction that academics like to bestow on one another. Of course Crick received the Nobel prize, so it was easy for him to snub his nose at the honor-grubbing of his lesser colleagues. Still, his behavior in this area is exemplary, and reassuring.

While I got this glimpse of Crick's personality, I did not learn as much as I had hoped about DNA. That is due to my faulty background in science at least as much as to any fault in Ridley's prose. But Ridley did inspire me to get back to Watson's "Double Helix," and eventually, I hope, I will arrive at more of an insight into the intellectual revolution that was brought about by Crick and Watson.

As others have noted, the book - so full of names and places - cries out for photographs. There are none. And it cries out for an index, of which there is none. Please, Atlas Books, relax your purse strings a bit and provide such things for the second edition.